Happy New Year! As we are stepping into peak planning season, this week the focus is on visualizing months of work on a calendar. Based on Sri Seah's Compact Calendar and the retro Russian Cyclogram calendar made famous by Edward Tufte, this calendar presents the whole year in a compact and extendable format.

Showing the entire year of weeks down the edge of a page, it gives you a week-by-week view of the what's coming. The space on the right is for tracking what's going to happen. It's an excellent tool for visualizing the blend of various projects. What stands out to me is its ability to render the repercussions of current scheduling decisions on upcoming quarters.

Bring this calendar with you when you sit down with your Product Manager and Tech Lead to plot out projects for the year. Mark out significant timelines such as Hack Weeks, Engineering Projects, Key Product Dates, and slower periods (e.g., Thanksgiving). Having all these timelines in a single place shows just how much you can achieve in a year. If you're using Shape Up, you'll find this approach even more helpful.

🗓️Here’s the link: Roadmap year view (Google Sheet)

Its value lies in its simplicity. The calendar manages the dates - you wield the magic wand to fill in the rest. 🪄